


something quite special

by dourhorsing (notapieceofcake)



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, Female Merlin (Merlin), Gen, Genderbending, Merthur - Freeform, arthur and merlin team up for a common cause, gaius is a worried dad, genderbent au, kinda retelling of how it could have gone at the start, mention of morgwen, uhhh it's been so long i've forgotten how to tag, usual prattishness, uther is kinda not that horrible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:28:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27440470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notapieceofcake/pseuds/dourhorsing
Summary: merlin saves arthur and is "rewarded." confiding in the prince becomes necessary, and it's good thing he has a good heart despite acting like a prat most of the time.
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 133





	something quite special

**Author's Note:**

> i got the title and one dialouge at the start from s1 ep 1.  
> this is more a re-imagining of bbc merlin with a few different aspects.  
> i do not claim the original characters and story except for how i write them in fanon.

The rush of just having rescued the man who had not only tormented her since she stepped into Camelot but was also apparently tied to her by destiny, if the riddlesome dragon could be trusted, disoriented her. Head still pounding with the rush of adrenaline, it took her a moment to realize the king had just addressed her, promising a reward for saving his son’s life.

“You saved my boy’s life,” the king looked very much like he couldn’t believe it had just happened despite saying the words. “A debt must be repayed!”

Merlin didn’t have a chance to do much more than shake her head and start saying it wasn’t needed, when the king interrupted her, telling her not to be so modest. So when Merlin’s refusal was rebutted again, she decided to concede, hoping it would shut him up and get this awkward interaction over with, she felt embarrassment begin to coil in her belly when he said it would be something special.

The young woman hadn’t rescued the prince for any sort of reward nor because she’d thought the woman was evil, but simply because he was innocent and helpless in the matter. While her heart had gone out to the woman and her son who the king had hanged, Merlin felt she wasn’t justified in avenging her son by punishing an innocent party. If she had tried to hurt the king, _maybe_ Merlin wouldn’t have tried to stop her.

In any case, the last thing she expected to be rewarded with was a position in the royal household as… “Prince Arthur’s manservant.”

She couldn’t help but gape after him while Arthur made a show of being offended at being lumped with her.

For all his talk of prowess and knowledge, it boggled Merlin’s mind that the king’s definition of a special reward was to enslave someone to his bully of a son!

 _Manservant!_ And wasn’t that the icing on top?

xXx

Back in the physician’s chambers, Melrin hunched on a stool as her new guardian paced the cramped space anxiously.

“Just what were you thinking Merlin! What will you do when you’re found out?!”

The girl resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew he meant well, but she couldn’t have very well confessed to the king that she was no man right after having saved his son from a sorceress. If nothing else, she would have been punished for making a king look bad because of his wrong judgment if she had corrected him. Worst case scenario, with his level of phobia of anything ‘unnatural,' the king would probably have accused her of magic and seen her executed. Which, well, in all fairness wouldn’t be untrue, but was still entirely wrong. It wasn’t magic she was concealing her identity with. 

“Well, I couldn’t have just told him I was girl in a packed hall now could I?”

Gaius shook his head, not satisfied at all. “I understand that,” he conceded more gently. “However, it doesn’t change the fact that the king will be… volatile if he finds out.”

“Don’t worry, Gaius. I have a plan.”

And she hoped to God it worked, because if it didn’t, then she doubted she would have any leeway.

xXx

Her first day on the job she hadn’t seen much of the prince except for when the absolute prat had demanded she be his practice dummy and beat her silly. The rest of the day had been spent learning her daily list of duties, which she had cringed at internally and her only solace had been that this wasn’t her permanent life, so it couldn’t be that bad.

Unfortunately, that also meant that she hadn’t been able to put her plan into action that day like she had intended to.

The second day, she strode into his rooms with the tray of breakfast and loudly woke him up, earning a glare and some grumbling.

She pushed the curtains back to give her hands something to do while she gathered her courage. Suddenly, it seemed much more difficult to do what she needed to.

“…Are you even listening?!”

Sighing, she turned away from the window and was slightly shocked to see the prince standing at the foot of his bed, shirtless and in light sleeping pants, glaring daggers at her.

“I have to tell you something.”

Arthur arched an eyebrow, somehow conveying his anger and confusion clearly, and she would have laughed and compared him to Gaius at some other time.

When she hesitated a moment longer, he made a grand gesture for her to continue, a mocking tilt to his brows.

Deciding to let the derisive gesture pass, she took a breath and stepped forward.

“I can’t be your manservant.”

Snorting in a very unprincely manner, the prince rolled his eyes and turned away from her to head over to the dining table. “And I don’t want a useless manservant like you Merlin, but it’s the king’s orders. And he doesn’t go back on his decisions,” he said with finality as he plopped down and began eating.

Having followed him across the room, Merlin stood her ground. “I know that, but I can’t be your manservant,” she reasserted.

From the clenching of his hold on the utensils, Merlin could tell he was about to snap soon. “What part of you being my servant expressly not being my wishes don’t you understand, Merlin? Get it through your thick skull, there’s nothing we can do! At least not yet.”

Holding his gaze, she said again. “I can’t be your manservant because I’m not a man.”

Confusion marred his face for a moment, before he was rolling his eyes again. “You being a eunuch doesn’t mean you’re any different really.”

Stunned as she was by his interpretation, Merlin was surprised to find even through the haze of shock that he sounded anything but insulting or angry when he’d said that. It even endeared her a bit to note that his voice was the closest to reassuring she had heard him yet.

When the shock passed, it was Merlin’s turn to roll her eyes. “No, you prat! I’m not a eunuch.” When he didn’t react, she threw her hands up. “I’m a girl!”

xXx

Fidgeting with the hem of her ratty jacket, Merlin stood a step behind Arthur, feeling strangely exposed in the king’s private chambers. The king was seated on a large wooden chair, and had gestured Arthur to do the same on its twin seat opposite him when they had first entered, but Arthur had refused the offer. Though it confused Merlin, she was now glad he had refused, because she felt shielded from Uther’s piercing gaze and attention.

“Are you not satisfied with his service, Arthur?” Much like he hadn’t let Merlin really speak that day, he cut Arthur off mid-denial, “Because if you’re not, then coming to me to complain is not going to work. You’re old enough now and must deal with such trivial matters yourself. Train him to your liking however you must.” Merlin would be shocked if she weren’t offended at the dismissive treatment.

She could see Arthur’s jaw clench at the king’s uncaring attitude and the added insults, which he clearly found unfounded.

“It is not about Merlin’s services, father,” he ground out, trying, and failing to sound patient. “Merlin’s a girl. She didn’t speak up that day because the hall was filled with our guests and she didn’t want to question your authority in front of your subjects.”

The look of rage that had come into his eyes turned to one of mild interest when Arthur mentioned why she hadn’t confessed that night.

“Still, the question remains,” the king pinned her with an accusing glare, now unimpeded by Arthur’s bulk as he had stood up and come closer. “Why did she dress up as a man in the first place?”

She glared at her shoes for a moment, feeling worthless in a way she never had before as he continued to look at her but refused to speak to her. _As if I’m not here._

Arthur stepped back, coming to stand beside her, and she took her cue to do as they’d rehearsed. Bowing her head stiffly, she fixed her gaze on the pendant hanging by the king’s chest.

“I am not from here, Sire. I came from Ealdor, which is far away, in search of ways to make a living. As I don’t have any brothers and never knew my father, I had to disguise myself as a boy to travel… I-In case I encountered bandits on the way.” Her voice had quietened down by the end, and she could see her hands trembling where they were clutching her loose trousers now.

It wasn’t fear of the king that brought this reaction, not entirely anyway. Instead, it was the threat of bandits and the memories of many a poor girl’s woeful stories of being robbed or worse by the brigands running amuck in Essetir. Added to those were the fresher, more recent, although few, instances where the threat had been very real and very close in her own experiences .

When she looked up, she saw the king’s gaze had softened and he clearly struggled to hold a strict expression. “You are safe from the bandits here now, child,” he said in a rare show of compassion. Because she had quickly learned that Uther Pendragon didn’t do compassion unless it suited him.

Merlin inclined her head in thanks, expecting the conversation was over.

“Although, you very well could have changed out of the male appearance upon reaching Camelot,” he said with a raised eyebrow.

Of course, it was not.

Feeling sheepish, she pulled her gaze away and studied her feet instead. “That… I kinda couldn’t change because I spent my first day in the stocks,” Uther’s eyes widened, “and was then taken to the dungeons.” If she felt embarrassed, she was glad to see Arthur suffering too because he was shifting anxiously and had made a choked sound just then. “I was eager to change out of the bindings when I was free the next day but… there was a feast and Gaius needed extra help.”

“Hmm… You seem to have had a chaotic time in Camelot,” he said almost musingly before he quickly caught himself and cleared his throat. “However, there is nothing to be done about your position in the household. You saved my son’s life, I trust you’ll continue to do so.”

“Father, what do you mean? Are you going to make her serve Morgana?”

Merlin couldn’t tell if that was a note of relief or reluctance in the prince’s voice, but she didn’t have time to dwell on that.

After a short moment of silence, the king shook his head. “No, not Morgana. She’s too fond of that maid of hers, and couldn’t bear it if I replaced her.”

She saw Arthur turn to look at her from her periphery and looked back at him. This could either go very well, or not well enough.

“And since she’d have to be close to you to make certain something like that doesn’t happen again, she will remain your servant.”

Arthur immediately protested, though she couldn’t speak for a whole minute. Was the king raving mad? Even after what they had just told him…

“My decision is final!” Ah, there was the stubborn, angry king. “I don’t care what you think, she is to be your servant.” Turning his glare on her now, he continued, “You will continue your duties as is.”

Not heeding his father’s anger, Arthur continued to flounder and try to argue, but Merlin felt a sense of certainty. She had seen it in his eyes. Uther was not going to budge.

xXx

It was the end of the day and Merlin was making Arthur’s bed, unusually quiet, while Arthur paced his room, not much unlike Gaius had a night ago.

“Can you believe how ridiculous he’s being?! _I don’t care if she dresses as a man or woman, as long as she does her job_ ,” he repeated. “What has gotten into him?!”

Merlin sighed. “Look, we tried. No use screaming about it now,” she bit back a wince as the words came out more snappishly than she’d intended. “At least for now,” she echoed his earlier words in a softer tone.

The prince looked chastised for a moment before rolling his eyes, though a small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah. For now,” he conceded.

“Well then, good night! I’ll be there to wake you tomorrow!” she said with false cheer and turned quickly to head back to Gaius’s chambers.

She’d made it to the door, her hand just resting on the doorknob, when he called out. “And uh, thank you for earlier.” When she turned a quizzical look to him, she could see him suppressing the urge to roll his yes. “For not telling father why you were… put in the stocks and all,” he clarified.

Huffing a laugh, she aimed him with a grin, feeling quite goofy at the gratitude despite everything. “Well, of course. Couldn’t have him chastising you already!”

The gentle look gone from his eyes, Arthur scoffed at her to get out, and she did, cackling to herself as she bounded back to Gaius’s apartment, the tiredness of the day temporarily forgotten and a bounce in her step.

Her training as the medic’s apprentice may have been destined to suffer thanks to Uther’s stubbornness, and her other identity may still be found out, but she couldn’t help but feel that all wasn’t wrong. Arthur may be a huge prat who liked to act the bully, but she’d been right and there was more to him than the unflattering exterior she had first encountered. Perhaps, she conceded, this wasn’t so bad.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you if you've read so far! i really appreciate any and all feedback! kindly let me know what works and what you think of this little au; i might write more for this, depending on my motivation and the response :))
> 
> ALSO! congrats to americans- biden won the elections :) one good thing that came out of 2020 xD  
> more importantly than that, stay safe wherever you are, and take care of your health <3 
> 
> lastly, please don't mind any mistakes i missed so far <3 if there's a typo, or a strange phrase, please correct me and i will fix it asap <3
> 
> xoxo


End file.
